Manmohan to visit Iran

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Iran on a date to be decided mutually after consultations.

Dr. Singh accepted in principle the invitation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to visit Iran when the two leaders met on Saturday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session currently on here.

The dates for the visit will be decided by the two sides after diplomatic consultations. This was the first meeting between the two leaders after a long time and they reviewed bilateral relations, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters while briefing them about the meeting.

If Dr. Singh visits Iran, it will be the first Prime Ministerial visit after 10 years when Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a trip to Tehran in 2001. There have been visits at other levels over the years between the two countries. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will also be visiting Iran shortly.

A lot to be discussed with Iran.
Though we have traditional ties with Iran dating back centuries, recent geo political situation often puts us in the opposite camps. India will have to work with Iran and there are no two doubts about it. What the PM has to do is offer his good offices to Iran to work out ways to do business with the US. It is imperative. Iran sits on the a strategic location with large reserves of black gold. You cannot ignore it.
Iran traditionally has been a forward thinking society till the Mullahs came to power. India hosts thousands of Iranian students in various colleges and in diverse fields including medicine and engineering. We have to build on these relations.
'Iran has to be told that though India will be against it on certain issues, primarily being the vexed nuclear issue, overall India and Iran will continue to share common interest and will keep ties cordial.

Also on agenda should be trade esp export from India to Iran which will help in resolving balance of payment which recently threatened to blow out into a diplomatic crisis. Also on agenda should be the use of Rupee as a currency to trade with so that sanctions on Iran dont effect trade and settlement issues.

India can try to offer assistance in the nuclear field which is the bone of contention as far as Iran's relations with the international community and the west in particular go. Iran recently called for assistance from the US to provide isotopes used in the medicine field. India has decent expertise in the nuclear medicine and it should help Iran. India has to make sure it uses its influence over Iran to dissuade it from pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shakes hands with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during a meeting at UN headquarters in New York on Friday.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Iran on a date to be decided mutually after consultations.

Dr. Singh accepted in principle the invitation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to visit Iran when the two leaders met on Saturday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session currently on here.

The dates for the visit will be decided by the two sides after diplomatic consultations. This was the first meeting between the two leaders after a long time and they reviewed bilateral relations, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters while briefing them about the meeting.

If Dr. Singh visits Iran, it will be the first Prime Ministerial visit after 10 years when Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a trip to Tehran in 2001. There have been visits at other levels over the years between the two countries. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will also be visiting Iran shortly.

The meeting also decided the Joint Economic Commission between the two sides will be meeting soon to be co-chaired by the Foreign Minister of Iran.

The two leaders reviewed situation in Afghanistan and discussed developments in West Asia and North Africa. They also agreed to review the Non-Aligned Movement which will be chaired next by Tehran.

Replying to a question whether the meeting between Dr. Singh and Mr. Ahmedinejad will have any impact on the Indo-U.S. relations against the backdrop of American officials walking out during a speech by the Iranian President earlier in the week, Mr. Mathai said the focus of the two leaders was on bilateral issues.

The Iranian President would be the next Chairman of the NAM, he noted.

He also said the gas pipeline proposal between India and Iran was not discussed, adding a wide range of economic issues including long term cooperation were discussed.

Asked about the issue of safety net against the backdrop of Iran and Israel emerging as nuclear powers in the region, Mr. Mathai said the nuclear problem was not discussed.

The emphasis was on bilateral ties and this issue was not discussed, he said.

On Afghanistan, both the countries felt that the dispensation in Afghanistan should be Afghan-led.

To a question on Indiaâ€™s reaction to General Mike Mullenâ€™s comments that Haqqani network and Pakistanâ€™s ISI were involved in the killing of former Afghan President Rabbani, Mr. Mathai said Indiaâ€™s position on terrorism was well known but he would not comment on what the US official had said.

India-Sri Lanka relations

The Prime Minister also met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and discussed bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest. Mr. Rajapaksa briefed him on proposals for devolution of power and the discussions between Tamil National Alliance.

The President also told Dr. Singh that parallel discussions were on in the Parliament Select Committee on the issue.

The leaders also discussed the resettlement of displaced persons and the fishing issue. A Joint Working Group on fisheries was also discussed.

Asked whether the issue of alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka was discussed in the context of a case being filed in a New York court, Mr. Mathai said the discussion was in general terms for addressing these issues in the island.

â€œOur Prime Minister noted that successful conclusion of the problems of the Tamil people preclude the need for outside intervention in Sri Lanka.â€

Dr. Singh also met the newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and congratulated him on his election. The two Prime Ministers noted that there has been an intensification of the relationship with Japan in the last few years.

India-Japan relations

The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, regional affairs in the context of the upcoming East Asia Summit and global partnership between India and Japan also came up in the meeting.

The two agreed to continue discussion on nuclear cooperation, noting that all countries were reviewing safety aspects. Japan suffered a severe nuclear accident when it was hit by a tsunami earlier this year. It was agreed at the meeting that the G-4 cooperation should continue on the UN Security Council reforms.

G-4 meet

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna attended a meeting of the G-4 countries involving India, Brazil, Japan and Germany, when they reiterated their common vision for the enlarged UN Security Council taking into account the contributions made by the countries to international peace and security.

BRIC meet

Mr. Krishna also attended a meeting of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as Chair of the grouping which will have its next summit in Marchâ€”April in 2012. The BRIC foreign ministers discussed the situation in Libya, Syria and Palestine, early accession of Russia to WTO and climate change.

Isolating NK resulted in them going nuclear and even more belligerent. Though there is no comparison between Iran and NK, the former being a far advanced state, isolating iran is not going to help. It's location and it's oil calls for engagement not isolation. The bone of contention is te nuclear program. If India could help find common ground, it will be a win win for all including Israel.

The art of diplomacy has always been one of balancing out the relations in keeping with the interests of the country.

Interests say we engage energy rich ME, Persian gulf.
Interests say and as pointed out by galaxy we make sure we keep our supply lines to CAR/aâ€™stan through iran intact.
Interests say post the US exit or a large scale drawdown of the US/west troops and if Pakistan was then to call shots through the Taliban then we use the Russia-turkey-iran-CAR grouping to further our interests and in here iran will be of essence.
Interests say we donâ€™t forget the past on how helpful iran has been on Kashmir with the present regime because we could well land up in a similar position in future as well, donâ€™t forget people who have helped in times of need when the others were baying for your blood.
Interests say we donâ€™t let iran-pakistan relationship get too strong, that it starts to become uncomforting for us and then we have another front to defend.
Interests also say we engage iran-ksa-israel-west all at the same time, and its for the diplomats to find the answer on how to do that.

India has invested a lot post the vote against iran that hurt this relationship dearly, and let us not forget here that under NDA our PM visited iran and the Israel PM was hosted in India, and we would all sing praises on the NDAâ€™s foreign policy, which is precisely how the foreign relations have to be maintained.

Also donâ€™t forget if all goes well, India will very soon be the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] largest economy of the world so we stand at a position where we can well place ourselves to further our interests and there is no love that the west has for us that they line up to do business in India, also figure in the importance of India in terms of geopolitics and how the west wants to use us against the PRC.

There will always be a give and take in diplomacy and it is best we as a country know how best to negotiate it to our benefit, in the end the country needs to gain, not the emotions on the streets.

We need Iran on our side for our energy security needs. The Pars field is one the largest gas reserves in the world. The TAPI pipeline is good, but Central Asia's gas reserves are peanuts compared to Iran's oil and gas reserves. We can't be dependent on the Saudis too much, since they are more involved with the Pakis than the Iranians who are no friend of Pakistan given issues with Pakistan supporting insurgency in Southern Iran.

The art of diplomacy has always been one of balancing out the relations in keeping with the interests of the country.

Interests say we engage energy rich ME, Persian gulf.
Interests say and as pointed out by galaxy we make sure we keep our supply lines to CAR/aâ€™stan through iran intact.
Interests say post the US exit or a large scale drawdown of the US/west troops and if Pakistan was then to call shots through the Taliban then we use the Russia-turkey-iran-CAR grouping to further our interests and in here iran will be of essence.Interests say we donâ€™t forget the past on how helpful iran has been on Kashmir with the present regime because we could well land up in a similar position in future as well, donâ€™t forget people who have helped in times of need when the others were baying for your blood.
Interests say we donâ€™t let iran-pakistan relationship get too strong, that it starts to become uncomforting for us and then we have another front to defend.
Interests also say we engage iran-ksa-israel-west all at the same time, and its for the diplomats to find the answer on how to do that.

India has invested a lot post the vote against iran that hurt this relationship dearly, and let us not forget here that under NDA our PM visited iran and the Israel PM was hosted in India, and we would all sing praises on the NDAâ€™s foreign policy, which is precisely how the foreign relations have to be maintained.

Also donâ€™t forget if all goes well, India will very soon be the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] largest economy of the world so we stand at a position where we can well place ourselves to further our interests and there is no love that the west has for us that they line up to do business in India, also figure in the importance of India in terms of geopolitics and how the west wants to use us against the PRC.

There will always be a give and take in diplomacy and it is best we as a country know how best to negotiate it to our benefit, in the end the country needs to gain, not the emotions on the streets.

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phew! I thought that this will also be another MMS bashing thread.

Bold parts are the crux of matter. Nicely put. We really don't want to see India becoming lap dog of west.